With the development of information systems and the widespread use of networks, many companies have the tendency of issuing notices and instructions from their headquarters to branch offices/sales offices by sending electronic documents via networks. Particularly, an information shared system (document management system) called an Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) has become widespread. In cooperation with, for example, the EIP, the branch offices can retrieve necessary information and receive notices from the headquarters by accessing a central Web server. As a result, information can be transmitted and widely known to employees faster than it is printed on documents and physically distributed.
On the other hand, the main business that is conducted at the sales offices are sales activities. Therefore, there is almost no need to use personal computers, and the sales offices do not generally provide the personal computer for every employee. In such a case, when notices and instructions are transmitted from the headquarters, persons in charge or the like at the sales offices download and print necessary electronic documents by accessing the central Web server. In this manner, the notices and the instructions are given to and generally known to relevant employees.
However, the operations of accessing the Web server, downloading the necessary documents, and printing the documents become very troublesome and time-consuming when there are a number of documents to be handled or when accumulated labor hours in one week or one month and the proportion of the time of the operations to labor hours are considered.
In order to reduce the labor, the present inventor has completed a system, a method, and the like for allowing users to collectively print and output necessary documents in simple operations by using a digital multi-function machine.
In this connection, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses an invention that allows users to reduce the labor of specifying one out of an enormous amount of document data when they wish to specify and print the document data and that hides document data for which the users do not have an access right. Here, with history information storage processing, a printing apparatus stores history information about printing processing for documents 1 and 2 operated by a user A, which contains identification information for discriminating processed document data. Then, when a user B presses a button 002 for “specifying one out of recently used documents” on a document operations screen 800, the printing apparatus determines whether the user B has an access right for the data of the documents (documents 1 and 2) corresponding to the identification information contained in the history information. As a result of this determination, the printing apparatus displays a list screen 1001 for allowing the user B to select the document data (document 1) for which the user B has the access right and prints the document data involved (see the abstract of Patent Document 1).
More specifically, Patent Document 1 discloses a document management system having a document management server that manages document data and client equipment that accesses the document management server and performs document processing of the document data in accordance with operations by the user. In the document management system, the client equipment has an authentication unit that performs authentication for the user; a history information storage unit that stores history information about the document processing containing identification information for discriminating the document data subjected to the document processing; a user access right determination unit that determines whether the authenticated user has an access right for the document data corresponding to the identification information contained in the history information; a display unit that performs display for allowing the user to select the document data for which the authenticated user has the access right; and a document processing unit that performs the document processing of the document data selected by the user.
In addition, Patent Document 1 discloses a document processing control method of a document management system having a document management server that manages document data and client equipment that accesses the document management server and performs document processing of the document data in accordance with operations by the user. The document processing control method has an authentication step of performing authentication for the user with the client equipment; a history information storage step of storing history information about the document processing containing identification information for discriminating the document data subjected to the document processing with the client equipment; a user access right determination step of determining whether the authenticated user has an access right for the document data corresponding to the identification information contained in the history information with the client equipment; a display step of performing display for allowing the user to select the document data for which the authenticated user has the access right with the client equipment; and a document processing step of performing the document processing of the document data selected by the user with the client equipment. Moreover, Patent Document 1 discloses a document management apparatus and a program (see the claims of Patent Document 1).
However, according to the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1, all the documents for which the user has the access right are hit (retrieved) depending on the presence or absence of the access right for document information. Because a system cooperating with the EIP essentially has an access right, it is allowed to view most of the documents or all the documents stored in a server according to circumstances. Therefore, in case that the user selects a document to be printed through an operations unit while a large amount of documents are stored in a document management server, even a list of the documents is caused to have a huge amount of information. As a result, the operation of selecting necessary information out of the huge amount of information becomes very complicated. Accordingly, Patent Document 1 does not specifically describe what solution means should be taken and how the problems are solved.
Patent Document 2 discloses a document management system that allows a handwritten comment or the like to be added as the attribute information of an electronic document by allowing a comment or the like to be described in instructions during operations in a sheet document and to be stored in the document management system. The document management system stores the electronic document and the attribute information related to the electronic document with an electronic document storage unit and generates the instructions that record the attribute information related to the electronic document so as to be extractable by an image input device. The instructions have a message region in which a descriptive message from an operator can be entered after the instructions are printed and stored as the attribute information of the document in the electronic document storage unit.
More specifically, Patent Document 2 discloses the document management system having the electronic document storage unit that stores the electronic document and the attribute information related to the electronic document; and an instructions generation unit that generates the instructions recording the attribute information related to the electronic document so as to be extractable by the image input device. The instructions generated by the instructions generation unit has the message region in which the descriptive message from the operator can be entered after the instructions are printed and stored as the attribute information of the document in the electronic document storage unit. In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a document management method and a document management program (see clams of Patent Document 2).
According to this technology, the user is allowed to issue processing contents to the document management system by writing data in the printed instructions in handwriting and scanning the instructions.
However, the document management system does not have the function of retrieving documents and dynamically generating instructions based on retrieval results. Therefore, the document management system cannot be applied to a case in which only a necessary document is printed.
Non-Patent Document 1 discloses an all-in-one type multi-function machine in which a printer and a scanner are integrated together. Here, when a memory card in which photo images taken by a digital camera are recorded is inserted into the multi-function machine, a thumbnail list of the photo images in the memory card can be printed in a format called a photo sheet. Then, when a mark scanning area near the thumbnail of the printed photo sheet is filled and scanned, the corresponding photo images are printed. In other words, it is only necessary to have the function of printing and scanning an OMR (Optical Mark Reader) sheet including a thumbnail for OMR processing and printing the corresponding photo images.
Patent Document 1: JP-A-2006-244302
Patent Document 2: JP-A-2007-241649
Non-Patent Document 1: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?Ic=ja&cc=jp&dlc=ja&product=324247&docname=c00096576
However, when the function disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 is directly applied to a document management database shared on a network, the user is required to print a list of all the documents and select a necessary document out of them as in the case of Patent Document 1. Particularly, Non-Patent Document 1 does not describe specific solution means as to how the operating procedures are taken when a large amount of documents are stored in the document management database. As a result, operations per se become tremendously complicated.